The Journey to Becoming A Degree Apprentice
This time last year, I was a college student considering my next steps after my course. As someone who enjoyed learning by doing and itching to get into the world of work, going to university full-time was not something that appealed to me throughout my time at college. Fast-forward to February 2021 and I’m now a software engineering degree apprentice, and what I aimed to do in this series is help those who are in the same position as I was last year — considering a practical pathway and wondering what they could expect from application processes for degree apprenticeships (and how to smash them!).
In this article I aim to answer these questions you may have:
🤔 What on Earth is a degree apprenticeship?!
🤔 Why should I consider becoming a degree apprentice?
🤔 How can I become a degree apprentice?
🤔 What can I do if I get rejected from any application stage?
🤔 What tips do you have in relation to degree apprenticeships in general?
🤔 What on Earth is a Degree Apprenticeship?!
A degree apprenticeship is where you are working for a company, and you are completing a bachelor’s or master’s degree alongside your employment. These could take between 3 and 6 years to complete depending on the apprenticeship scheme. The degree apprenticeship I am currently doing is a BSc Digital and Technology solutions one, but there are opportunities across a variety of sectors including protective services, business, childcare, science, engineering, and construction.
The degree apprenticeship I’m doing is with the University of Wolverhampton. The apprenticeship lasts 4 years, and during this time I go to university one day a week (although there are a few weeks where I don’t around Christmas and in the summer, for example) and I’m at work for the other 4 days in the working week.
At university, I generally have two modules in a semester, and there are either 2 or 3 semesters per year. On the day where I am at university I spend the morning on one module, and then the afternoon on the other. I sometimes have to complete some work for university in the evenings and weekends in my own time. During my time on LinkedIn and when I was researching degree apprenticeships, I found that off-the-job training isn’t always structured in this way, so do bear that in mind when you’re exploring degree apprenticeship programmes — find out as much information as you can and identify what you think you would benefit from most.
At work, I don’t make tea for everyone ☕. That’s partly because we’re working from home at the moment, and I don’t drink tea. I’ve never even had a cuppa in my life! Even if we weren’t working from home, I can assure you that I still would not be making tea! My time at work is very hands-on, so everyday I am learning by doing. I work on projects with my team, and I don’t JUST do coding either — there’s much more to software engineering than that! As well as learning and using back-end and front-end languages, I also write automated and manual tests, plan projects, help others with any issues they are having, and presenting work we have completed and new things we have learnt — all with the other members in my team!
🤔 Why Should I Consider Becoming a Degree Apprentice?
There are quite a few reasons why I love being a degree apprentice and I would recommend it as a pathway after school or college, or to upskill yourself in your current job!
- 📚 Learning
👩💻 Technical Skills
What I really love about doing a degree apprenticeship is that I learn while I work, so I have an actual understanding of what working in the industry is like opposed to imagining it in the classroom! I get to use tools that are used in industry by the professionals I am learning alongside, so I can be assured that what I am learning has relevance!
😊 Soft Skills
Not only do I get to learn technical skills, but I also get to learn soft skills! The key soft skills I feel I have gained so far are teamwork, time management and confidence. I spend my time working with my team to achieve a shared goal, and we have to communicate with each other to help each other out when we have problems because the performance of a team is not down to a single individual.
Along with this, we have to manage our time effectively to make sure we are not spending too long being stuck on something before we ask for help and ensure we complete the work we set out to do to the best of our abilities. There’s also an element of managing time when we have university work to do before a deadline.
I feel that my apprenticeship has brought out a lot more confidence in me. Prior to my apprenticeship, I was quite a confident person, and I think college really helped to bring that out of me, but I think my apprenticeship has helped to extend it by having more confidence in terms of what I am capable of and knowing that I can succeed in industry. I’ve also had lots of opportunities to practise my confidence in terms of presentation skills, including one where I got to go back to college to give a talk. I remember during college and at the start of the apprenticeship I used to absolutely DREAD presentations, but now I feel much less nervous about them and I tend to look forward to them too — it feels like a massive difference!
- 🌟 The Opportunities!
There are lots of opportunities available to you at university and at work. As part of university, I’ve had the chance to go to conferences relating to my area of study and find out about extracurricular activities. They can give you opportunities to see and learn about what else is happening in the industry to broaden your knowledge. What you learn could potentially be applied to where you work, or meet people who can share their experiences. I love hearing about the experiences other people have had in the industry so I can learn from it and relate to my own.
There are also opportunities at work to find out about other aspects of the company and learn new things that you could teach to other people. I like finding out about other aspects of the company I work for because I get to have an understanding of how it all works together and what other people’s responsibilities are, and it’s also really satisfying to find out how customers are impacted by what you work on! I enjoy teaching things I’ve learnt about to other people in the company because I feel like I’m making an impact and helping others! You could also have opportunities to represent your company, such as doing talks at local schools and colleges, or events that your company is running.
I’ve only really scratched the surface of the opportunities that are available to you when you do a degree apprenticeship. It’s definitely worth looking at https://www.ratemyapprenticeship.co.uk/ and connecting with apprentices on LinkedIn to find out more about what opportunities other apprentices have had!
- 😄 The Social Aspects
There’s a heck of a lot more to an apprenticeship than just doing work at your workplace and university you know! Also, just because you aren’t at university full-time, you don’t miss out on the social aspect entirely! You get the opportunity to meet people on your university course and in the workplace. It would be worth mentioning here that since you are a student when you’re on an apprenticeship, you will still have access to the university’s social events and societies, so you won’t be missing out! At work, the company may run their own social events, such as Christmas parties and gaming nights. I’ve loved attending the social events I’ve had for work, and I really feel part of the company! You’re never “just an apprentice”, that’s not how it works, you are treated as employee and a core part of the company.
- 💲 Financial Benefits
Consider it from a financial aspect as well. With doing a full-time degree, you would have to pay back your student loan when your income is over a threshold, and what this threshold would be would depend on the student plan you’re on (https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan/when-you-start-repaying). With a degree apprenticeship, the company you are working for and the government will be paying for your degree, so you will not have to pay back a student loan. With an apprenticeship, you will be treated as an employee, meaning you will get paid! That means you’ll get the chance to have some financial independence! If you’re wanting to do an apprenticeship purely for getting paid, bear in mind that you must be willing to learn and manage the workload you will get from university and work (it can be quite a lot!). It’s quite a commitment to make — life isn’t all about money, you must think about whether you’re going to be happy when taking this pathway.
- 📤 The Final Outcomes!
Let’s also compare the outcome of a degree and a degree apprenticeship. At the end of a degree, you would have the qualification at a bare minimum. At the end of a degree apprenticeship, you would have the qualification AND a few years of experience on top of that! What do employers look for? Experience! Doing a degree apprenticeship could help you have an advantage when you are applying to jobs in the future because you would have more experience in comparison to university graduates!
Please bear in mind that I’m not saying, “don’t go to university”, I’m recommending that you consider degree apprenticeships as a possible pathway. If you feel that university would be a more appropriate pathway for you, then that’s fine. Besides, I have never been at university full-time, so I cannot give you a proper comparison of what each are like, so what I recommend you do is to speak to both university students and apprentices to gain an understanding of both worlds and make an informed decision about which you would prefer!
🤔 How can I become a degree apprentice?
Now I’ve given a bit of background to degree apprenticeships and why they are worth considering, let’s get an understanding of how to become a degree apprentice! I’ve written these stages in separate articles so you can get plenty of detail about them all:
· What Can I Do Before I Apply For A Degree Apprenticeship?
· Smashing the First Stage of a Degree Apprenticeship Application Process
· Smashing The Degree Apprenticeship Interview
· Smashing The Situational Strengths Test
· Smashing The Assessment Centre
The advice I put on these articles are based on my experience. There may be other stages that you may come across in some apprenticeship application processes, such as fitness tests with the RAF degree apprenticeships, but I reckon you will experience at least a few of my listed stages!
How long an application process will take can also vary. From my experience, smaller companies tend to have shorter application processes, whereas larger companies tend to have more stages in their application processes and takes longer.
🤔 What Can I Do If I Get Rejected?
If you get rejected from at any stage in the application process, remember that it’s not the end of the world. It just means that particular programme isn’t the right one for you, at least not yet, meaning you can be redirected to a pathway that is for you. Aim to try to ask for feedback on why you weren’t the right candidate for them, which would help you to react to that and perform better in other application processes you go for. Keep an eye out for opportunities and perhaps reapply if they open vacancies again. In the meantime, you could try to get a part-time job, even if it’s in something that you’re not directly interested in, to get some work experience and gain soft skills. You could also work on some courses and projects that will help to prepare you for an apprenticeship that you would love to do!
🤔 What Tips Do You Have in Relation to Degree Apprenticeships in General?
- 👐 Be Open-Minded
Make sure you’re open-minded with your decision-making and have a positive mindset throughout all the stages in the application process — you do deserve to be there, and you will excel when you work in the industry. Don’t have your heart set on one pathway because you could be hiding yourself from opportunities you may like even more!
- 👉 Make a Decision Based on What YOU Want
When you’re considering what you want to do after leaving school or college, choosing the pathway to go down can feel a bit overwhelming. Other people may voice their opinion on what they think you should do, but at the end of the day, you need to make the right decision FOR YOU. Nobody knows you as well as you know yourself, and YOU will be the one who lives with the decision. Make the decision based on what you want and the information you have found out, don’t just do it because someone else says to.
- 😊 It’s an Opportunity to Show Them How Great You Are!
I would also like to remind you that all aspects of the journey are an opportunity for you to show how great you are, and that was a quote my grandad used to say to me when I was younger. By keeping this in my mind, I felt like he was there with me by my side as I was going through this journey and it helped give me the positive mindset I needed to succeed, and I hope this can benefit you too!
The Final “Final Note” For This Series…
Well! This article concludes the end of the “Journey to Becoming a Degree Apprentice” series! I hope you’ve enjoyed it and found it helpful. You’re welcome to connect with me on LinkedIn if you found this series useful or have any questions, and feel free to leave any feedback in the comments below. If you’re already an apprentice or an employer, I would love it if you could also comment any other advice you would give to people who are applying for degree apprenticeships at your company!
